VAT free? Forums

Invicta · Last edited by Invicta on Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:23 pm; edited 1 time in total

Hi Sabaru,

Re your comment;

"The people who were doing this with the Land Rover dealer were Disabled. So i guess they were in need".

The question is were they purchasing them for their own use or, as the disabled person I was told about by a local garage, purchasing the latest Jag getting it VAT exempt, then sell it immediately?

Invicta

bigfoot

The selling on of such vehicles IS an offence as VAT must be repaid.
To qualify the vehicle doesn't neccesarily have to be adapted. Many conditions warrant disability registration such as visual impairment (owner not driver!!),Cystic Fybrosis and such conditions whereby the person cannot walk any distance, but does not require a wheelchair.
Also remember that servicing,spare parts and repairs are exempt from VAT. This requires production of a form on each occasion.
But fuels and lubricants are not.
Only higher rate mobility entitles you to be exempt from road fund, but it isn't automatically applied.

see vat websitehttp://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000128&propertyType=document

Humber-Traveller

Greetings.

To obtain VAT relief, the vehicle must be adapted.

Eligible persons are: a wheelchair user who has to use a wheelchair (electrically powered or otherwise) in order to be mobile, or a disabled person with a degenerative disease such as multiple sclerosis or similar conditions, who does not need to use a wheelchair all the time, but only when the condition requires it.

The VAT does not have to be repaid on selling the vehicle on.

A vehicle can be purchased for the purpose of conveying an eligible disabled person, this does not necessarily need to be the owner or the driver.

This above is as defined by contact with the Custom and Excise offices.

Information can be supplied by the Customs and Excise by telephone or postal contact:

The Adjudicator's Office
Haymarket House
28 Haymarket
LONDON
SW1Y 4SP

Phone: 020 7930 2292

bigfoot

I question your statements as it is a very grey area,but stand to be corrected. Perhaps you are with Revenue and customs.
If my info is incorrect I would be obliged for an update.

Humber-Traveller

Greetings,

The information offered Bigfoot, is as a result of personal communications with the Customs and Excise office.

The information is freely available from their

DABurleigh

bigfoot,

There is nothing grey about it at all IMHO. All very clear, using your own reference no less.

For example:

"To qualify the vehicle doesn't necessarily have to be adapted."
Yes it does - see your own reference, section 3.

"Many conditions warrant disability registration such as visual impairment (owner not driver!!),Cystic Fybrosis and such conditions whereby the person cannot walk any distance, but does not require a wheelchair."
Maybe, but to gain VAT relief on the purchase of a vehicle, your own quoted reference, para 1.3 says "Disabled wheelchair users - VAT relief on purchases of adapted vehicles". Also see your para 2.2. Just having a registered disability doesn't qualify you.

Are we talking at cross purposes I wonder?

Dave

Invicta

I am posting here a copy of an article I wrote that appeared in the August edition of the Mobilise Magazine. At the bottom of the article is printed the HMRC details which I used in my research when preparing the article.

Motor vehicles for disabled people

I recently attended a social function that was being held in the showrooms of a local car dealer. The dealership holds the franchise for Jaguar cars. One of the directors of the company present told me about a disabled man living in Scotland who, as soon as a new Jaguar model is released, orders one with an adaptation such as a steering wheel knob applied. This enables him to sign the required declaration and purchase the car VAT exempt. When the car is ready, this disabled driver comes from Scotland to Kent to collect it already having a person waiting to buy the car from him which he is able to sell at a profit. At present there is nothing to stop this being done as there is no restriction on the time lapse between purchasing one VAT exempted car and another. How long will it be before the Government introduces regulations to prevent this happening?

If a law is applied, what time lapse should there be between changing VAT exempted vehicles? Under the Motability scheme vehicles can only be changed after a three year period unless there are extenuating circumstances. Should this not be the same for VAT exempted vehicles?

Another matter concerning VAT exempted vehicles is that only wheelchair users, (electrically powered or otherwise), who have to use a wheelchair in order to be mobile, are eligible for the VAT exemption.

The following are examples of adaptations for the carriage of a disabled wheelchair user:

a swivel seat;

a hoist to lift a wheelchair into or onto the vehicle;

a box for the wheelchair, which is fitted to the top or the back of the vehicle;

Adaptations that enable a wheelchair user to drive the vehicle, such as a push/pull brake and accelerator, hand controls or other aids that operate the primary driving controls; and infra-red control unit that operates the secondary controls.

A disabled person with a degenerative condition, such as multiple sclerosis, who does not need to use a wheelchair all the time, but only when the condition requires it, also qualifies as a wheelchair user.

Users of electric mobility scooters however do not qualify for VAT exemption when purchasing a vehicle. For the twenty years I have required wheels both large and small to enable me to leave the house, I have seen a huge increase in the numbers of disabled people using electric scooters. I use one myself. Electric scooters have become smaller and lighter in weight thus allowing many more to be carried now in vehicles. I fail to understand why a vehicle carrying an electric scooter cannot be VAT exempt. The rules do not say that the disabled person has got to sit in the wheelchair in the vehicle. Surely a much simpler method of deciding whether or not a person should be able to claim VAT exemption on a vehicle is whether or not they are legally in possession of a blue badge? I will be interested to hear the views of other Mobilise members on this matter.

Full details of this and other VAT exemptions for disabled people can be found in HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs) Reference:Notice 701/59 (March 2002)

bigfoot

The reason why I stated it is a grey area and not neccessarily adaptions required is as follows;local offices tend to give their own interpretation despite published documents to the contrary. As regards repayment of vat when sold Our local office informed me that if the vehicle was sold on within the period before it becomes eligible for MOT a proportion of the tax has to be repaid. One of the grey areas is in the case of minibuses which become subject to an mot after one year of registration. Again if the local conditions vary it would be wise to follow them. Thank you for your response to my concern especially as I have just bought a fleet of vat exempt minibuses for transporting elderly and disabled people, the majority of which are "walking wounded".

Humber-Traveller

Greetings,